Tuesday, June 7, 1988/The Battalion/Page 7
ioiPallas symphony center
j gets budget complaints
DALLAS (AP) — The I.M. Pei-
IKined Dallas symphony center is
I L/ H|ng a crescendo of complaints
, lw that it is three years behind
Hriypcidnle and at least $30 million
sJ I I V C >ver budget.
Hhe Morton H. Meyerson Sym-
tucky Gov.i'hony Center is expected to open in
lunch suppcCptcinber 1989, seven years after
to Dukakis °ters approved spending $28.6 mil-
•f his stale's ion for the city’s share of the public-
withhim. >rivate facility originally scheduled
lys after Hi! o open in 1986.
continue to But some city officials are begin-
question whether all the costs
>n Mondas re justified and whether the cen-
our other yfr's upkeep — estimated at $1.5
o Dukakis i Billion P er y ear — w iH drain city aid
e they hac;.°other arts groups.
Bruce Br Eater this month, City Council will
^residential onsider spending $2.5 million more
the operaiici 1 ^the center > primarily for im-
“gateshasp; )rovements i n lighting and sound
eason dratnlB
equipment and seating. The addi
tions will raise the pricetag of the
2,100-seat center from an original
estimate of $49.5 million to $81.5
million.
“Everyone is wondering how
much it’s really going to cost,” Coun
cilman Jerry Bartos said. “It’s like
there’s always a reason to keep
spending. I think the council is re
ady for it to get back in line. It’s a
legend already for its costs and com
plexity.”
When the center opens next year,
it will be the most expensive contem
porary concert hall built in this
country, The Dallas Morning News
reported Monday.
“It’s a gold-plated building —
that’s obvious,” said Charles Tandy,
chairman of the council’s arts com
mittee. “Sometimes function can be
had for a lot less.”
The concerns come as Dallas faces
a $38.2 million budget shortfall next
fiscal year and the prospect of lay
offs and a tax increase.
The center has strong supporters.
“Once it opens, people will not be
concerned really about how long it
took or how much it cost,” said
Leonard Stone, executive director of
the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
“It’s being built in a very careful way
for the long haul. Personally, I’m ex
pecting it to be one of the great
acoustical rooms in the world.”
The center will be opulent, in
cluding brass railings, onyx lamps, a
limestone exterior and unusual
wooden canopies above the stage
that can be raised or lowered to en
hance sound quality.
Stone noted that nearly all of the
center’s cost increases are funded by
private donations.
e told that p. .
rr’ Businessmen
__discuss trade
I^fU.S., Arabs
be involved i \
d anything H
!k. IBHOUSTON (AP) — American
rongly he and Arab businessmen on Mon
te of aDerc day began three days of meetings
e next Jam her: in a bid to deepen mutual
■demanding, hopefully leading
?mocratic | to broader trade ties.
1 at BushorlM'When you meet your coun
oil drilling terparts here, speak your mind,”
ingoutac former Texas governor John
i administi Connally urged Arab participants
iday he fai in a welcoming speech. “Don’t ex-
rsial drillint P 6 ' 1 1 perfect world from us, we
lorthernC don’t expect one from you.”
Wfhe conference, called GUL-
m pleased FAmERICA, is intended to pro
fit’s kind o: vile a forum for discussion of
ig that sale bIS.-Arab trade issues, and an
opportunity for businessman to
Ket each other.
BSheikh Ismail Abu-Dawood,
P res ident of the Saudi Com-
C TOied Chambers of Commerce
'Wr w and Industry, said in another wel
coming speech that improving
^ 5 ties are a priority.
' I ||l|, "We want to st lengthen our re-
" I \J 11 laiions, especially on the commer-
® Hi, industrial, investment busi-
Hss,” he said. “And it is good
dr knowledftitinie for the United States to do
ory and cla®;business, right now, since the dol-
IH'is competitive.”
ts appreciate HA previous conference held in
best teacher! Atlanta in 1983 resulted in an es-
;ophomore\ timated $200 million worth of
; welcomer business for both U.S. and Arab
p. You could; com P an * es > Michael Saba, confer-
night." ente organizer said.
■Connally said the Arab world is
s Campbell mostly a mystery to Americans,
1, “She triei w ho know little about the region
ts understand:beyond brief television images,
e peoplewhol I“You are dealing with a people
who are basically provincial by
mture, in their knowledge,” Con-
the compfe n ally told Arab participants. “The
udents attraff American people are not familiar
high achifflfyb your countries, your cus-
line required toms. So you have to tell us.”
)u practicetki I n turn, Connally said Arabs
ver classes,’f s bould understand the American
distaste for cartels such as OPEC,
[and said American criticism of
• ,1. Arab countries are often part of
“ wonderh broader debate of American
I throughout) Pf 1 ^ 8 -
Tier she retiil .
rith her hiisM Following the greeting re-
ersity-Beauff rna,k 1 s ’ P?«‘ cl P ai ?^ bstened to a
Alfred Emm_P ant ' lonUS - Gulftrade -
and grant’
San Antonio officer
seeks to eliminate
myths about police
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Detec
tive Mel Graf wants teen-agers to
know that police officers like base
ball and rock music, too.
The department’s new public af
fairs officer is out to change some
commonly held misconceptions of
San Antonio’s police.
“We’re not ogres,” said Graf, 40, a
20-year veteran of the force. “We
want them to know that police offi
cers are like everyone else.”
He is studying the idea of starting
a Police Athletic League and police
rock band here.
In Houston, he said, police orga
nize basketball, baseball and soccer
leagues, and in Dallas they concen
trate on organizing boxing pro
grams for boys.
“The idea is to get kids involved
that would not normally be in
volved,” Graf said. “It’s so kids can
build up their self-esteem and char
acter.”
He has mounted a search for po
lice musicians to form a rock band
with an anti-drug message for mid
dle school students.
The project would be patterned
after an Ohio police band featuring
the music of Michael Jackson and
Billy Idol.
“We want greater interaction
(with youths),” Graf said. “We want
them to see officers in a different
hght.”
The department’s public affairs
office was set up Feb. 1 at the direc
tion of Police Chief William O. Gib
son.
Graf works out of the depart
ment’s Planning and Research Unit
in a third-floor office at downtown
police headquarters.
The only cost of the program is
his detective’s salary.
“We were one of the few depart
ments in the country without a pub
lic affairs officer,” Graf said. “Gib
son thought there was a need for
one.
“I’m a liaison between the com
munity and the Police Department.
I’m covering a void that hadn’t been
addressed.
“I’m dealing with community
groups, service groups and your
school districts, and I’m talking
about all of them. My job description
changes on a daily basis.”
Graf said his interest in commu
nity work evolved.
“You do one little project and it
will hook you,” he said. “It’s a dom
ino effect.”
Grafs first project was arranging
a free country-western concert for
225 senior citizens through the San
Antonio Police Officers Association.
“It’s like opening a book that you
can’t put down,” he said.
Now, he says, local businessmen
have expressed an interest in help
ing get some of these programs on
line.
“It’s been very positive,” he said.
“(City) money is tight. Money is al
ways tight.”
Thanks to Santikos Theaters,
1,300 disadvantaged youths got to
see the inspirational movie “Stand
and Deliver,” about an East Los An
geles calculus teacher who helped
turn around underprivileged chil
dren, motivating them to reap high
national test scores.
“It illustrates that kids can get
ahead,” he said of the movie. “We
wanted to make sure it was watched
by kids so they could get the mes
sage.”
Graf said he initially was drawn to
police work because of the excite
ment of the job and the chance to
contribute to the community.
“There are a lot of things as a po
liceman that makes your heart
move,” he said. “If you walk into a
dark room with a burglar and your
heart isn’t pumping, you’re not hu
man.
“I was looking forward to police
work as a career. I was looking to
make an impact on the community.”
Graf sees his new job as a chance
to let teen-agers know that police are
on their side.
“We’re here to help,” he said.
Sriton sets altitude record
jn hot-air balloon escapade
EARLDO (AP) — A British bal-
Mst set a world altitude record
onday after tenacious sandbags
Sd him to crawl outside his pres-
lj|ed gondola at 22,000 feet and
eld a Swiss Army knife to lighten
sload. -
Per Lindstrand, 39, floated his bu-
• ne- and solar-powered “Strato-
O lest” hot-air balloon to an unoffi-
JlV^/5 l %ecord 59,700 feet, well beyond
e 55,134-foot record set in 1980,
ordinator Peter Mason said.
After repeated bad-weather de-
ISkhat had postponed liftoff for
pthil days, the 12-story-high craft
ok off in spotless South Texas
ies shortly after dawn. But then
e first problem developed: two
P|kilo sandbags that were sup-
|sed to release automatically did
)t.
“There was no way I could make
e altitude record while carrying
■sand,” Lindstrand said. “ So I
A id to climb out of the capsule and
Arcd it them.”
mailable The first was no problem because
Ks near the hatch, but the second
■bn the other side of the craft be-
lid the reach of his oxygen line.
“I had to take a deep breath, run
x?^l||'0und, cut it off and run back
jJXlU* ,ari', all the while clinging on to the
|||de of the capsule,” he said.
||at got a bit hairy.
W “It was a fairly average day, 1
f * M ink,” Lindstrand added jokingly.
X h a d a particular problem with
e sandbags, but nothing my trusty
Swiss Army knife couldn’t handle.”
Descending turned out to be diffi
cult, too, because solar panels used
to heat the air to buoy the craft
worked almost too well.
“The balloon was more solar than
1 thought,” Lindstrand said. “But it
was almost too much. I had a prob
lem getting down. There was a vent
at the top at the balloon that I had to
open and hold open during the de
scent.”
When he had dropped to 12,000
feet, Linstrand slowed his descent by
relighting the butane burners he’d
turned off earlier when the oxygen
became too thin. At that point, he
was falling at 500 feet per minute.
Lindstrand had hoped the
$200,000 flight would break the
60,000-feet barrier, considered to be
technically impossible because of a
lack of oxygen in the atmosphere
needed for the balloon’s burners.
But the two sandbags cost him
that goal by draining fuel and forc
ing him to begin descending just be
fore 60,000 feet. After a S'/h-hour
flight, he landed in mid-morning in
a field about 60 miles from his
launch site on the Callaghan Ranch
north of Laredo.
“I managed to land in probably
the only grassy field between Mexico
and Houston,” Lindstrand quipped.
“We were very fortunate. We landed
without any damage to the balloon
or the capsule.”
While the ballooning feat is a per
sonal achievement for Lindstrand, it
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UMMER
also represents a step for science, he
said.
“The great gain is to ballooning,
but there are other gains,” he said.
“We showed what we set out to: That
a half a ton of payload with no input
except the sun can be transported.
“The use of the sun is a primary
technology for industry. We used
the same type of film that is used in
solar collectors on the outside of the
balloon to propel it.”
Lindstrand, who heads the British
firm of Thunder & Colt Balloons,
had his team build the 600,000-
cubic-feet balloon of a special ICI
Films’ polyester material, Melinex.
ICI Films sponsored the Stratoquest
project.
“Our business is to find ways of
conserving fuel,” Lindstrand said.
“This is a way to try technology to
limit.”
Linstrand topped the old altitude
record set in 1980 by Julian Nott,
Mason said. Two sealed cameras that
filmed the craft’s altimeter readings
will be shipped to Denver for verifi
cation of the record.
Last year, Lindstrand and British
millionaire Richard Brandson set
another record when they became
the first ever to cross the Atlantic in
a hot air balloon.
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